Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Alaska's Boreal Forests Burning More with Climate Change

A heavy smoke plume from a boreal forest fire. Credit: NASA
The largest U.S. wildfires in the last decade of record-breaking blazes have been in the wilds of Alaska, where fires have blackened more than a half-million acres at a time.

A new study predicts more of the same for all of North America’s boreal forests, the Far North belt of spruce and fir trees that extends from interior Alaska across Canada.

A warming climate could promote so much wildfire in the boreal zone that the forests may convert to deciduous woodlands of aspen and birch, researchers said.

Alaska's Boreal Forests Burning More with Climate Change

No comments:

Post a Comment